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The consumerization of IT- The next-generation CIO

Published on December 13, 2011 in News. 0 Comments

From PwC’s Center for Technology and Innovation:

Users’ demands that they be allowed to use technologies of their own choosing isn’t a fad that will fade. CIOs can’t squelch these demands—nor should they. The consumerization of IT is a symptom of a shift in workplace expectations that has been brewing for years and is now reaching an inflection point.

From the time of the Hollerith’s punched cards, information technology has been changing the way business is done. It has enabled larger-sized enterprises, more agile enterprises, and has also made possible stunning and catastrophic mistakes. The introduction of personal computers, as this report emphasizes, was a particularly disruptive event. Contemporary mobile computing in tandem with cloud services and social network systems promises to have at least as large an impact as the placement of a PC on every desk in the office.

To download the report...

MBA Diary: No research required

Published on December 9, 2011 in News. 0 Comments

(Alamy)

From Andrew Pollen, a first-year MBA student at ESADE in Barcelona, at The Economist…

A couple of weeks ago, my economics professor introduced a new case study for us to mull over. It was dense and packed with historical background. We were split into groups and most of the class had only just finished reading it when we reconvened to wrap up the session. The professor explained some fine points for the case and suggested which tactics we should employ. Then he said he was very disappointed in us.

“I wanted you to work on the case in groups,” he said, “and instead you read the case individually. If you had worked together, I think you would have noticed that the first 10 pages of the case were absolute nonsense that you do not need to answer the questions.”

It was a powerful pedagogic lesson in using teamwork to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. I think ESADE emphasises the teaching ability of its faculty because it has never been a top research institution; faculty come from industry or consulting rather than academia. They view teaching as their motivation rather than an unpleasant side effect to their appointment. On the first day of my statistics class, the professor thanked the students and said, “Your being here allows me to do something that I love.” I felt that sentiment a lot less often during my time at a top American business school. More…

Organizational Culture, Learning, and Knowledge Management

Published on December 5, 2011 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Organizational Culture, Learning, and Knowledge Management an edited collection by Jonathan H. Westover is now available from The Organization imprint.

We live in an increasingly hyper-competitive global marketplace, where firms are fighting to stay lean and flexible in an effort to satisfy increasingly diverse and specialized consumer demand around the world. Additionally, with the shifting global economy in recent decades and the emergence of the technology and service-oriented knowledge organizations, how do organizations effectively foster a continuous learning and innovation culture? What can organizational leaders do to promote ongoing organizational learning that will have a measurable impact on increased firm effectiveness and employee productivity? How can organizations more successfully manage organizational knowledge to achieve strategic organizational goals and add value to all organizational stakeholders? These are just some of the pressing questions facing the organizations of today.

This edited collection provides a comprehensive introduction to organizational culture, learning, and knowledge management and explores the wide sweeping impacts for the modern workplace, presenting a wide range of cross-disciplinary research in an organized, clear, and accessible manner. It will be informative to management academics and instructors, while also instructing organizational managers, leaders, and human resource development professionals of all types seeking to understand proven practices and methods to create organizational systems and culture to promote ongoing organizational learning and innovation to drive firm effectiveness in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Jonathan H. Westover is an assistant professor of management at Utah Valley University, specializing in international human resource management and organizational behavior. His ongoing research examines issues of globalization, labor transformation, work-quality characteristics, and the determinants of job satisfaction cross-nationally.

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